Alpha Flight Direct UPCs (and other oddities) 0

[Lazyboy]

After reading something elsewhere and doing some quick research, I realized that Alpha Flight was handled very unusually in the middle of the series. I've never paid that much attention to the title before and only have about 10 issues, so I never noticed this before.

Does anybody know when the title stopped newsstand distribution or have issues 46, 58, and 69 from which they could post images of the Statements of Ownership?

Edited May 22, 2018 by Lazyboy

[RockMyAmadeus]

Alpha Flight went Direct only with issue #52, and changed format from newsprint to Baxter with issue #61..

[Lazyboy]

That is what I thought.

Now, why did issues 65-76, 78, 81-84, 86, and 88 have UPCs? I know why 122-130 had them, but issues 52-64 didn't even have UPC boxes.

[RockMyAmadeus]

55 minutes ago, Lazyboy said:

That is what I thought.

Now, why did issues 65-76, 78, 81-84, 86, and 88 have UPCs? I know why 122-130 had them, but issues 52-64 didn't even have UPC boxes.

The people who know, if they're still alive, aren't telling, or have forgotten. 

Alpha Flight WAS NOT being distributed to newsstands at this time.

In fact, the four part story running from #97-100 was simultaneously printed as AF Special #1-4 specifically FOR newsstand distribution (like Doctor Strange #28, which became Doctor Strange & Ghost Rider Special #1.)

Also in fact...the issues with UPC codes DO NOT have corresponding "Direct" versions.

I remember getting AF #88, brand new at the store, with a UPC code and thinking..."why is there a newsstand edition here?"

Edited May 22, 2018 by RockMyAmadeus

[Lazyboy]

3 minutes ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

Also in fact...the issues with UPC codes DO NOT have corresponding "Direct" versions.

Right. That was what got this started for me. You should be able to guess where and what I was reading (as mentioned in the OP).

Just because a comic has a UPC, that doesn't guarantee it's a Newsstand edition.

[RockMyAmadeus]

21 minutes ago, Lazyboy said:

 Right. That was what got this started for me. You should be able to guess where and what I was reading (as mentioned in the OP).

Just because a comic has a UPC, that doesn't guarantee it's a Newsstand edition.

Man, that place has the mentality of a high school locker room.

That's correct: just because a comic has a UPC doesn't guarantee it's a newsstand edition (prior to the switchover to every issue having a UPC in 1994.)

That said, though, there are only a few instances like this...the AFs, the Foolkillers, maybe a couple of others (Doctor Strange #28 and others, for example.)

Wanna hear something even MORE ridiculous...?

(That's a rhetorical question; I'm going to tell you anyways. )

Doctor Strange #28 ONLY has a UPC. Ghost Rider was sold on the newsstands, but Doctor Strange was not. HOWEVER...Doctor Strange & Ghost Rider Special #1, which is DS #28 with a different cover and indicia, has BOTH a UPC AND a Direct version.

Figure THAT one out! 

Edited May 22, 2018 by RockMyAmadeus

[Lazyboy]

45 minutes ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

That said, though, there are only a few instances like this...the AFs, the Foolkillers, maybe a couple of others (Doctor Strange #28 and others, for example. )

Wanna hear something even MORE ridiculous...?

(That's a rhetorical question; I'm going to tell you anyways. )

Doctor Strange #28 ONLY has a UPC. Ghost Rider was sold on the newsstands, but Doctor Strange was not. HOWEVER...Doctor Strange & Ghost Rider Special #1, which is DS #28 with a different cover and indicia, has BOTH a UPC AND a Direct version.

Figure THAT one out!

There are so many little things done by the publishers that just leave me scratching my head.

Just a few of the oddities include:

• Direct editions with no UPC box on issues that also have a Newsstand edition (like X-Factor 11, 13, and 14)
• UPCs on Direct editions before the point when they all got them
• Different prices on Directs/Newsstands for the same issue (though I do understand the higher Newsstand prices when the publishers were about ready to just give up)
• Inconsistencies in the second part of Direct bar codes
• Canadian Newsstand editions (I've mentioned this before but still don't know why it took them years to figure out that they could just put all the prices on them like they were doing with Directs)

I understand that various errors will occasionally creep into the creation process, but most of these kinds of things were clearly intentional.

Edited May 22, 2018 by Lazyboy

[RockMyAmadeus]

On many of the Direct editions that have no box, you can see the shadow of the box in the artwork. I imagine it was a compromise, because the artist didn't want it covered up.

Suicide Squad #1 (1987) for example.

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

2 hours ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

Man, that place has the mentality of a high school locker room.

That's correct: just because a comic has a UPC doesn't guarantee it's a newsstand edition (prior to the switchover to every issue having a UPC in 1994.)

That said, though, there are only a few instances like this...the AFs, the Foolkillers, maybe a couple of others (Doctor Strange #28 and others, for example.)

Wanna hear something even MORE ridiculous...?

(That's a rhetorical question; I'm going to tell you anyways. )

Doctor Strange #28 ONLY has a UPC. Ghost Rider was sold on the newsstands, but Doctor Strange was not. HOWEVER...Doctor Strange & Ghost Rider Special #1, which is DS #28 with a different cover and indicia, has BOTH a UPC AND a Direct version.

Figure THAT one out! 

I think the same might hold true for the Operation: Galactic Storm issues of Quasar.

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

1 hour ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

On many of the Direct editions that have no box, you can see the shadow of the box in the artwork. I imagine it was a compromise, because the artist didn't want it covered up.

Suicide Squad #1 (1987) for example.

What that is is the box printing 100% Black only, and the rest of the background printing 100% Black with some additional Magenta, Cyan, or Yellow kicker. 

[Lazyboy]

Okay, I just looked up Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme. me!

[cranky's]

I was drawn down this alpha flight rabbit hole a while back and couldn't make sense.  There do seem to be UPC-also copies of later issues (post direct-only) that appear few and far between.  Then they go to UPC-only for a bit.  I wondered if they were a limited market area only or something like that.  

[RockMyAmadeus]

4 hours ago, s.krank said:

I was drawn down this alpha flight rabbit hole a while back and couldn't make sense.  There do seem to be UPC-also copies of later issues (post direct-only) that appear few and far between.  Then they go to UPC-only for a bit.  I wondered if they were a limited market area only or something like that.  

Who knows? It was all very bizarre, and made little sense.

The only possible theory I have is that book sellers, like Waldenbooks, DID have Direct editions of books (they did sell them), and it's possible it was an attempt to test out putting UPC codes BACK on Direct only books. I would imagine some of the larger chains complained that they had to sticker those books. There are many, many books from that era that were Direct only that got stickered with UPCs so they could be scanned in their systems.

In fact, I think that's the most plausible theory....but the few who did know have probably forgotten.

[Lazyboy]

10 hours ago, s.krank said:

I was drawn down this alpha flight rabbit hole a while back and couldn't make sense.  There do seem to be UPC-also copies of later issues (post direct-only) that appear few and far between.  Then they go to UPC-only for a bit.  I wondered if they were a limited market area only or something like that.

I used to be blissfully unaware of this strangeness. I blame @RockMyAmadeus for dragging me down into this hell!

On 5/22/2018 at 8:20 PM, Lazyboy said:

Okay, I just looked up Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme. me!

To expand on this, issues 2, 3, 5, 7-9, and 11-34 have UPCs, while issues 1, 35, 37, 42, 43, 48, and 50 appear to have both Direct and Newsstand editions

[cranky's]

On May 22, 2018 at 12:16 PM, RockMyAmadeus said:

Alpha Flight went Direct only with issue #52, and changed format from newsprint to Baxter with issue #61..

Is there a list somewhere of titles that went direct only?  Alpha flight52 is dated Nov/87and for DC I'm looking at SwampThing 60 which came out in May/87.  

I'm curious about the transition at the time, like was it a gradual shift and why they chose those certain titles?

[RockMyAmadeus]

1 hour ago, Lazyboy said:

On 5/23/2018 at 8:27 AM, s.krank said:

I was drawn down this alpha flight rabbit hole a while back and couldn't make sense.  There do seem to be UPC-also copies of later issues (post direct-only) that appear few and far between.  Then they go to UPC-only for a bit.  I wondered if they were a limited market area only or something like that.

I used to be blissfully unaware of this strangeness. I blame @RockMyAmadeus for dragging me down into this hell!

On 5/22/2018 at 6:20 PM, Lazyboy said:

Okay, I just looked up Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme. me!

To expand on this, issues 2, 3, 5, 7-9, and 11-34 have UPCs, while issues 1, 35, 37, 42, 43, 48, and 50 appear to have both Direct and Newsstand editions

Haha.

Sucker.

Doctor Strange was a DIRECT ONLY title...hence the "Dr. Strange/Ghost Rider #1" special mentioned earlier. There should be NO "newsstand editions", BUT...clearly, no one was in charge, so some of the issues may, in fact, have ended up on the newsstand.

Boy, was Marvel in a mess at that point. 

[RockMyAmadeus]

54 minutes ago, s.krank said:

Is there a list somewhere of titles that went direct only?  Alpha flight52 is dated Nov/87and for DC I'm looking at SwampThing 60 which came out in May/87.  

I'm curious about the transition at the time, like was it a gradual shift and why they chose those certain titles?

Who knows? They were doing "Direct only" as early as 1981 with Dazzler, Micronauts, and Kazar. It was quite weird, and had little rhyme or reason.

AF went direct, Doc Strange (1988 series) started as direct. I don't recall other series that were direct only, but there were a few. 

[Brock]

19 hours ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

Who knows? They were doing "Direct only" as early as 1981 with Dazzler, Micronauts, and Kazar.

My recollection is Micronauts, Kazar and Moon Knight. I think Dazzler continued with newsstand distribution...

[Lazyboy]

6 hours ago, s.krank said:

Is there a list somewhere of titles that went direct only?  Alpha flight52 is dated Nov/87and for DC I'm looking at SwampThing 60 which came out in May/87.  

I'm curious about the transition at the time, like was it a gradual shift and why they chose those certain titles?

DC had way more early Direct-only titles, although a bunch of them were limited series.

Doom Patrol was one of the very few that changed from full distribution to Direct-only.

For Dc, the titles were chosen largely based on content.

Camelot 3000 (Dec 82, 12 issues)
Omega Men (Apr 83, 38 issues)
Ronin (Jul 83, 6 issues)
Green Lantern/Green Arrow (Oct 83, 7 issues)
Thriller  (Nov 83, 12 issues)
Vigilante (Nov 83, 50 issues)
Infinity, Inc. (Mar 84, 53 issues)
Legion of Super-Heroes (v.2) (Aug 84, 63 issues)
New Teen Titans (v.2) (Aug 84, 130 issues)
DC Challenge (Nov 85, 12 issues)
Outsiders (Nov 85, 28 issues)
Electric Warrior (May 86, 18 issues)
Lords of the Ultra-Realm (June 86, 6 issues)
Watchmen (Sep 86, 12 issues)
The Question (Feb 87, 36 issues)
Spectre (v.2) (April 87, 31 issues)
Young All-Stars (June 87, 31 issues)
The Shadow (Aug 87, 19 issues)
Silverblade (Sep 87, 12 issues)
Outcasts (Oct 87, 12 issues)
Slash Maraud (Nov 87, 6 issues)
Sonic Disruptors (Dec 87, 7 issues)
Wasteland (Dec 87, 18 issues)
Hellblazer (Jan 88, 300 issues)
Peacemaker (Jan 88, 4 issues)
Forever People (v.2) (Feb 88, 6 issues)
Green Arrow (Feb 88, 139 issues)
Checkmate (Apr 88, 33 issues)
Cinder and Ashe (May 88, 4 issues)
Animal Man (Sep 88, 89 issues)
Doc Savage (Nov 88, 24 issues)
Dr. Fate (Winter 88, 41 issues)
Sandman (v.2) (Jan 89, 75 issues)

There are more, but this is what I already had recorded.

18 hours ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

Who knows? They were doing "Direct only" as early as 1981 with Dazzler, Micronauts, and Kazar. It was quite weird, and had little rhyme or reason.

AF went direct, Doc Strange (1988 series) started as direct. I don't recall other series that were direct only, but there were a few. 

Dazzler began (Mar 81) as a Direct-only title and stayed that way through the entire first issue! 

Micronauts started with issue 38 (Feb 82), Ka-Zar the Savage with issue 10 (Jan 82), and Moon Knight with issue 15 (Jan 82).

[RockMyAmadeus]

 Yes, as mentioned, DC went whole hog on the Direct only titles.

For example: both the Shadow and Spectre minis of 1986 and 1987 were Direct only. Then there was Wrath of the Spectre, Shadow of the Batman, and Saga of Ra's al Ghul. All sorts of fun stuff. Oddly enough, Dark Knight (it's NOT "Dark Knight Returns"...that's only the title of the FIRST book) were also sold on newsstands, as was Longbow Hunters, but Killing Joke was not (considering the subject matter, though tame today.)

AND, in fact, both the Legion and New Teen Titans began, after a little over a year, to REPRINT the stories told in the "Direct only", baxter paper books in the newsprint titles, starting with issues #59 (NTT) and I want to say #321 for LOSH, but that's probably wrong. Thereafter, the new stories would appear in the Direct only (and much more expensive) titles, and those new stories would be reprinted a month or two later in the newsprint titles, which were renamed "Tales of the New Teen Titans" and "Tales of the LOSH." Probably got very confusing for a while there. This continued until the cancellation of the "reprint" titles in 1987 (LOSH) and 1988 (NTT.)

You want a REAL thrill...? Put together a Canadian set of those titles. Good luck!

Another Marvel book that was Direct only was Marvel Fanfare, though, again, there are UPC issues in the run (#49 for example.)

As far as this thread is concerned, it looks like only the Marvel titles had issues with UPCs for Direct only issues.